Vandita Mishra writes: What about the school in Damoh? A question for the Opposition

On June 11, Sunday, Damoh (Madhya Pradesh), the principal and teacher of Ganga Jamuna Higher Secondary School were arrested on the charge of criminal conspiracy 10 days after the school was derecognised. The arrests were the latest onslaught by the mighty state against a small minority run-school, the only one which is English-medium in the vicinity, catering to mostly first-generation learners, children of farmhands, beedis-makers and labourers. The school became controversial after a poster celebrating its impressive board results featured students wearing head scarves, and the Chief Minister wagged a finger at it for an Iqbal verse sung as part of the morning prayers.

In her speech in Jabalpur, Priyanka Gandhi did not mention the predicament of the Damoh school.

In the year ahead of 2024, in which crucial state elections will take place, the Congress rally in Jabalpur showcased the elements that may be coming together in its poll template: AAP-style guarantee card plus talk about jobs/social justice/BJP scams — plus public displays of Hindu-ness.

That last element can be seen framed in several Congress photo-ops from MP, from Kamal Nath posing as the true Hanuman bhakt to the party’s latest ally, a splinter of the Bajrang Dal.

That last also means silence or evasion on any issue that could be seen as “pro-Muslim”.

The Congress’s sidestepping of the travails of the Damoh school was not just due to its usual organisational inertia. It is seldom seen at the ground zero of issues, but in all likelihood, it stayed away from Damoh because it was wary of being charged with Muslim “appeasement” in a state where the BJP is actively ratcheting up the politics of polarisation. In his pursuit of a fifth term, the avuncular Shivraj Singh Chouhan is taking a prefix out of Yogi Adityanath’s book. “Mama” is turning into “Bulldozer Mama”.

On this count, Karnataka may have been a bit of an exception — in that southern state, the Congress campaign, silent and/or evasive on Hindutva for the most part, came out, towards the end, with a proposal to ban the Bajrang Dal. For the upcoming elections, the Congress is more likely to play a me-too version of the BJP’s Hindu card, as it is doing in Madhya Pradesh, rather than seek to confront it in any manner, as it did in Karnataka.

On the face of it, the Congress’s strategy seems pragmatic. In its best version, it also seems like a good way to challenge the BJP’s sole claim over the “Hindu vote”. If the ongoing make-over of two BJP leaders in two election-bound states is any indication, the BJP’s dependence on Hindu-Muslim polarisation as an ingredient of its poll potion is set to become more, not less, pronounced.

If CM Chouhan is busy targeting madrasas and stoking hawkish campaigns in MP against religious conversion and “love jihad” in Maharashtra, Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis, another BJP leader who was seen as moderate and affable, is speaking the language of extreme prejudice. Most recently, Fadnavis railed against “Aurangzab ki aulad” amid the flaring of communal tensions in Kolhapur.

So what can the Congress, and the Opposition, do to combat a BJP that is trying to consolidate the Hindu vote, while also projecting its welfare schemes and claiming it has burnished India’s image in the world, especially in the year of Delhi’s G20 presidency?

To take on the BJP, the Opposition will have to deploy several appeals at once, like the BJP.

In addition to the guarantee card and the focus on unemployment/caste census/BJP’s scams, it will need to hold up an alternative model of governance in the states in which it is in power. It will have to persuade the voter who is sceptical of “Opposition unity” that it is committed to the give-and-take and the setting aside of exceptionalism and ego that a joint plank demands. It will have to localise the election, and also stitch together an agenda that is overarching and national.

And yet, the question remains urgent, it will not be put off, it will not go away: What about the school in Damoh?

The school that the Chouhan government has trained all its formidable firepower on illustrates the fundamental challenge for the Opposition in the time of BJP. It shows what is at stake when it does its poll math and decides to stay away. It is not just abstract ideas of pluralism and secularism, of equality fraternity and justice, in a diverse democracy.

It is not just the fate of a faceless Other, or of a minority community represented by its hard fringe.

What is at stake, most of all, is the future of vulnerable and defenceless first-generation learners, children of farmhands, beedi makers and labourers, in a classroom under siege.

Till next week,

Vandita

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– Peter Ronald deSouza, “Why I said, not in my name”, June 17

– Parinitha Shetty, “When women travel free”, June 16

– Milind Sohoni, “The great IIT disconnect”, June 15

– Editorial, “Mamaji’s manifesto”, June 14

– Sandeep Dwivedi, “She fights to win”, June 12